FlexScan S2242W LCD monitor

In essence Eizo has shoehorned a 24in monitor into a 22in shell

Expert Rating

3.50/5

Pros

1920x1200 resolution, price

Cons

Pixel density can make it less ergonomic to use than larger monitors

Bottom Line

To create the Eizo FlexScan S2242W, Eizo has trimmed one of its superlative monitors to nearly the bare minimum — but the core product is good, and offers good value for money if you need outstanding image quality.

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With everyone watching their budget at the moment, including creative professionals who need a high-quality screen, the arrival of the Eizo FlexScan S2242W is timely.

In essence Eizo has shoehorned a 24in monitor into a 22in shell, allowing the company to add a relatively reasonable price. Eizo says that it can also save you up to 10 percent of desk space — but price is the main reason to purchase the Eizo FlexScan S2242W.

The Eizo FlexScan S2242W monitor has the same 1920x1200 resolution as 24in and larger displays, so the S2242W's pixels are closer together. This makes can make it less ergonomic to use, as you have to sit closer to it than you do to a larger display.

The Eizo FlexScan S2242W looks almost cheap next to monitors such as NEC's MultiSync LCD2690WUXi2 — there's a lack of finesse to its design. A line of buttons along the lower part of its bezel is initially mysterious, presenting a jumble of letters and numbers whose purpose isn't immediately apparent. But once you get into the menu system, there are far more controls than you'd expect on a £400 monitor — including gamma, gain and colour temperature presets from 4000K to 10,000K.

The menu system allows you to turn on the Eizo FlexScan S2242W's Auto EcoView feature, which uses a light sensor to adjust brightness to the optimum for the lighting at your desk. This is designed more to save energy than keep your display's colours accurate, as raising or lowering the brightness can throw out any calibration you've applied.

We created a profile for the monitor using a DataColor Spyder3Elite calibrator and brought the resulting ICM file into Chromix ColorThink to inspect it. We saw quite a change between the provided profile and our calibration — though this was mainly a drop in brightness rather than a huge colour shift. Our tests showed that the Eizo FlexScan S2242W's gamut was expansive considering the price, though not as good as the dearer NEC's.

The Eizo FlexScan S2242W has only one DVI input — if you have a second computer for production or rendering or other tasks than doesn't require a sharp picture, there's a VGA port as well.

Eizo has bundled a bare minimum of software with the Eizo FlexScan S2242W and we even had to download the standard colour profile from the Eizo Web site. There are a couple of Windows-only tools, however, that replicate the monitor's OSD.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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